New Beer Sunday (week 417)

Mid-MI is starting off at 9F with ice blue sky. I'm sure that will turn to clouds, (80% of the time it does) and hit maybe 25F. Nothing exciting, but at least I'm looking at sunshine right now.

Thanks for everyone's participation last Sunday as we celebrated our 8th year of NBS. I was unable to clearly breathe because my stubborn head cold crept back in, thoroughly pissing me off. Today I've got to rep my company's booth at a local bridal show basically all day, then it's off to my father-in-law's birthday party. Doesn't look like I'll be formally reviewing my brand new Short's Goodnight Bodacious or Sam Adam's IPL I bought a few days ago I did, however enjoy a fresh Arbor Brewing Mr. Delicious DIPA and a 2011 Goose Island Lolita at Crunchy's (legendary MSU bar, turned craft beer haven) this past Friday night. Even had an ever-so-smooth and chewy Ayinger Celebrator. Got my hops, Belgian funk and hearty malt all in one fantastic sitting. Thanks Kirby, (our fantastic bar maiden). Also, thanks to the GM, Mike, for the VanDer Mill Totally Roasted cider taste!

What new brews are ya'll drinking for Michael Jordan's 50th b-day today? Maybe a Chicago-based Piece, Goose, Revolution, Half Acre...? What cool new stuff just hit your market? Short's Aorta Dbl. Red Ale just hit here - very tasty at that. Wait, that should have been my Valentine's Day ale, now that I just made the connection. Speaking of Valentine's Day, did anyone get some great beer from their sweetie? I got a bottle of Woodford bourbon and some crab legs/NY strip.

Grab a new beer and share your experiences (after you've drunk it) with us today. Please give us some colorful commentary of your experience/s with your new beer/s today, AFTER you've drunk it/them. I kinda don't care if you're thinking about opening a bottle of so-and-so, or maybe going out with a friend to what-and-where. We only wanna hear about all that AFTER you've done it - AND it included a NEW BEER. Drink your new beer, THEN holla back, ya hurr me mayne? Good day and good drinkin'!

I had a Short's Pandemonium Pale Ale last night. They do not distribute to MA, but brought some in because they would be in the area for EBF. I'm not a huge hop head and just got over a cold myself. This was a nice copper color with a decent head and good lacing. The aroma was nice, not very hoppy. Nice, smooth body, full flavor and earthy tones. I really enjoyed this, and as a one time distribution, it was a nice treat.

Captain Lawerence is brewed one state over in New York but it just started really sh owing up in NJ the last couple of weeks.
This DIPA is great. Lots of grapefruit pineapple and pine.
It's $3.99 for a pint bottle so I will be getting this often.
One downside, the bottles arent dated. The cases were so I knew it was fresh.

FINALLY got to try this. Got a growler of it. REALLY enjoying it. So floral and grapefruity. Not overly bitter, very sessionable. Beats Flower Power for me, and i love FP. If you are around in NJ, head over to the brewery or find this on tap somewhere. I hope they bottle soon!

Here in SCMN we are kinda' in our winter doldrums (can you have dog days of winter?). Semi-cloudy and seasonable cold. Snow not melting much and the snow lovers are getting in their last digs before the unpredictable weather of March arrives (which, let it be know, is not the start of spring in these here parts. March is just another month of winter).

Anyway...I'm breaking my tradition of lighter and smaller early afternoon beers for NBS and I'm hitting the top 50 of Beers of Fame (#22 I believe). With a trip to Sconnie I was able to get a couple of beers in that category.
This canned beer deserves all the attention it gets and it's a relative value too. Yum, yum, yum.

Hi everyone it's been a long time. It's a cold blustery day here in south central Pennsylvania and my wife and I are enjoying 1 of our few remaining quiet Sundays. She's due April second. I decided I needed something warming today, so I opened a new barleywine.

Hi everyone it's been a long time. It's a cold blustery day here in south central Pennsylvania and my wife and I are enjoying 1 of our few remaining quiet Sundays. She's due April second. I decided I needed something warming today, so I opened a new barleywine.

Greetings NBS'ers, crisp and cold day here on the ridge in Mid Hud Val NY. Went bowling with the kids earlier, and now have cracked this growler refilled y'day at Peekskill Brewery which has been knocking them out of the park since Jeff O'Neil took over as brewmaster. Sorry for the folks in Ithaca, but their loss is our gain, and we are so thankful to have him and Benz here. This one is his second attempt at this style, with some brett this time, it's refreshing and delicious. Hope you too have a Great American Beer in your glass. Cheers!

Cold, sunny day here in New Jersey. Wind is more bitter than the Double IPA I just had. Still, it's not a bad brew...Going to grab a second when I'm finished writing this. It's from Sam Adams - it's the THIRD VOYAGE DOUBLE IPA. Not "best of style" in my book, but nice enough to enjoy! (It came in a worthy variety pack.)

So I spent my morning cleaning up around the old homestead... including rearranging my of half the bookshelves to be in order of color--- it seems my wife liked the look of it from a pinterest photo. We are going to give it a tey for a few weeks before we do the rest of the shelves....
Here's how mine looks now:

After that, plus some laundry, and cleaning up my mancave, I felt it was time for a beer...

Had to grab these new barrel aged brews from Arcadia because I was BLOWN AWAY by the BA Shipwreck Porter...
I'm starting off my day with the BA Cereal Killer...

Heres some pics:
About 10 seconds after an initial pour..
Overhead view
After 35 seconds the head is gone.
Some spitty chunks of lacing
The beer looks really dark, but held up to a little sunshine we see its natural beauty-

Overall-- nowhere NEAR the porter.
This is ok. It isnt great, but it wasnt a drainpour.
This beer is ok. It is worth trying, but not worth trading for.
And here is the review--

What? Me, drinking a Biere Brut, a sour-type beer? Well, I shared this with my wife and I'm glad that I did so, a very pleasant surprise. Maybe I'm on to something, but that's another story! Did you notice that the review begins and ends with the same word? That was not by chance.

Greetings NBS'ers & Happy Belated 8th Anniv , from the Canadian side of the PNW , so far today is an overcast , cold and crisp with a chance of sun this afternoon , the morning couldn't have started better thou as my Mom's team Liverpool put the game away early in the 2nd half , so I could start early with http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2675/90186/?ba=LampertLand ,sampled along side Hoyne's Voltage Espresso Stout , it's been a good start to the day

As JoeyBB mentioned, its cold and windy here on LI - dust devils of snow crystals getting kicked up and sending sprays of sparkling snow into your face - real good stuff - on a basically sunny day. Went to my mother-in-law's for Sunday dinner - 2 pm Italian-style, pasta with homemade meatballs and sauce, bakery-fresh bread, and some salad on the side (I passed on the insalata ); followed by espresso, sfogliatelle and cannoli. No good beer to be had, so I had a half-glass of the obligatory red wine with the meal. Couldn't wait to get home for New Beer Sunday!

Great Divide Brewing has returned to LI, though I wasn't drinking craft beer whenever it used to be around, so I was pretty excited to see Yeti products in my local stores this past week.

Here's some of what I brought home:
Already had an Espresso Oak (Friday?) - and man, was that good - also had their Titan IPA - spot-on, my friends - but I had to try 'em all.

And the winner for NBS is (*drumroll*)....

The Yeti, their standard Russian Imperial stout.

Into a tulip it goes with a confident center-pour:
Nice thick head of dark brown mousse over a body so dark it almost absorbed the reflection of the camera (lol):
A super fine RIS - worthy of the reputation it seems to have.
Left sheets of lace down the glass as I drank:Great Divide's Yeti Imperial Stout
I've become a tougher critic of styles with which I've become familiar, and having the .25 ranking increments available now has contributed to more conservative scoring from me as well. The RIS was one of my first interests (Old Raspy!), so I sometimes wince at the glowing reviews I've given to beers years ago that I now feel less enthusiasm about - but I don't have the time to go back and re-evaluate 300+ beer reviews...

That said, this is a standard-bearer for the Imperial stout - Russian and otherwise. It's one of those beers that an advocate should, given the opportunity, try. I'd put it as a peer to stouts from big name brewers like Founders (KBS/Breakfast/Imperial stout), AleSmith (IRS/Speedway), Goose Island's BCBS line, and the aforementioned Old Rasputin, among others.

It's a drink of great craftsmanship and refinement. I think that in the vast pool of Imperial stouts out there, a beer must have something to distinguish itself, and Yeti has that: a smoky, almost "meatiness" to it - I couldn't help but think of a smokehouse full of meat in some wintry wilderness, you know, smoke coming out of the chimney, a yeti lurking in the nearby woods (lol), drawn by the smells perhaps....
I am super impressed with Great Divide so far, and looking forward to their Belgian Yeti, barleywine (Old Ruffian), and yeah, I can't wait to have that second bottle of Espresso Oak Aged Yeti...

Good afternoon NBS'ers time for some chocolate too keep one warm here on the canadian side of PNW , Spinnaker's Chocoholic this inaugural version of Chocoholic is a 7.8%% alc/vol; 17 IBUTcho Milk Chocolate Porter brewed in a Baltic Porter style with a Canadian Pilsner malt base , English Munich , Cara and Chocolate malts , American de-husked chocolate malt and a touch of wheat malt,balanced with 2 pitchings of German Hallertaus hops and farmer empowering , sustainably cooperative produced TCHO source cocoa nibs from Ecudor via Pier 17 in SanFrancisco and my takehttp://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/3447/90185sampled alongside Rogue Double Chocolate Stout

On a related new beer note, I sampled some of my home brewed pale ale today. It's about 4 weeks in now, and while mildly carbonated was quite tasty. Until now my home brewing has been the pre-hopped malt extract and no boil recipes. They were OK but not great. This one is my first foray into what I'll call "real brewing" and I was surprised at how good this pale ale turned out. It's bound to be better as the spring wears on.

Nice day here in eastern Washington, sunny with temps in the low 50's. But they say changes are on the way, so I'll keep my spring fever in check for now.

Ive had quite a few new beers today. I finally made my first visit to Natty Greene's in Raleigh on the way back from Fayetteville, and it was really a good trip.

First up was the Appalachia Honey Irish Red. It was a very earthy Irish Red with a ton of honey. Body was light in style, but made up for it with some viscosity from the honey. It got even more honey flavors when it warmed up. I liked it alot. Next was the Green Tea Gruit. I didnt really know what to do with it. It was like drinking fresh green iced tea. Light body, and nothing to it.

The highlight of trip came in the next two beers. First was Full Moon Pale Ale. It had to be fresh because it tasted like pure west coast hops. Lots of dank dry hops dominated the light bodied pale ale. It finished with a nice balance of bitterness and a good dose of resinous grapefruit. I loved the beer alot.

Next I had the Hessian Hefeweizen. Clove heavy with a hint a banana and bubble gum, but its definitely a clove bomb. The General Stout was a very roasty, bitter Irish Dry Stout, bordering on a bit too roasty. I didnt get enough of the nitrogen smoothness underneath the heavy coffee and roast.

The last beer was the biggest let down. Gunsmith Dunkel was just plain awful. It almost tasted like a Belgian Dark. not enough smoothness and roast. Too much yeast.

I frequently miss new beer sunday... it's more often new beer monday for me.

I just procured my first sucks! So, on tomorrow's "what are you drinking", you'll see my report
I know it's silly that I haven't had a sucks yet, but I tend towards stouts and porters.... Can't wait to broaden my horizons w/ a heavily vetted BA fav.

Too much time on my hands to avoid having another beer.
And since its a new one...Belgian Style Yeti
Are you kidding me? This is fantastic!
Seriously - these people at Great Divide have hit these nails on the head.

Let's review: their Titan IPA - a spot-on IPA; Yeti - a spot-on Russian Imperial stout; their Espresso Oak Aged Yeti - an amped up version of their Yeti, with a heavier dose of espresso flavors and an ethereal oakiness; and now this, their Belgian-style Yeti - I guess if you start with a great brew like Yeti, you can't really go wrong...

The Belgian version has fruity and molasses flavors woven into the mix. Just frickin' stunning. Lighter body and feel, a little slipperier on the tongue; the only aspect that suffered, for what its worth, is the head is totally MIA - which matters, sure, but is it a big deal? Nope. This is a delicious drink. Good lord...

Greetings fellow NBSers! A bit of a late entry for me today. I walked my nephew earlier this morning, had a few new brews at home, and then my friend Joey took me and her youngest daughter to a presentation at Mt. Baker Theatre.

There's a guy in town, who I've had beers with many times over the years, and we've talked about a lot of stuff, but never what we do. Turns that dude was the guy presenting the info today. His name is Chris Morgan. He's had shows on PBS, National Geographic, BBC and others. He's an expert on bears, and also knows a lot about wolves and Siberian Tigers. I never knew. I am truly humbled that one my local homies that I BS with over beers is this major, big deal in his world. He showed some stunning footage of bears, tigers and talked about his experiences.

don't want to say that it's another disappointment, because it was drinkable, it's just too one sided. tastes like juice and vodka. no sourness and very little tartness. too much alochol burn on the finish. don't know if it just fell apart in the past two years or if it's always like this. very drinkable and it was free! cheers and good night!

Good evening, fellow NBSers,
Had a late start to the day, plus I wasted a good hour or so by driving up to the north end of town to check out a beer bar that happens to be closed on Sundays...
Oh, well, it was a nice day for a drive, although if I'd known how things would pan out I'd have gone somewhere more scenic than the north side of Spokane.
Picked this up a couple of weeks ago on a similar trip north that was more of a beer fieldtrip:http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30/86010/?ba=woemad
Really interesting - found it an intriguing place between beer and wine - but I wouldn't want to drink it all night.